Northern residents in Israel have been forced to build their own shelters due to the absence of state funding. Since October 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel, tens of thousands of Israelis in the north have been evacuated and Hezbollah missiles have rained down on their mostly abandoned towns. The older neighborhoods in the north, built before the 1990s, are not fortified, and residents rely on communal shelters. The state only funds fortification for kindergartens under the auspices of the Education Ministry. As a result, many residents have taken it upon themselves to build their own fortified rooms at their own expense.